The Prisoner – It’s Your Funeral

December 8, 1967  Season 1 Episode 11

If you want to see where we are…HERE is a list of the episodes.

This is what I would call the last “normal” episode. After this, it gets confusing.

In this episode, Number Six notices something different going on in the Village. A woman comes to him about an assassination attempt, but he thinks that she was sent by the village. She actually didn’t know that the village was watching her (Number 2 admits this). At first, Six thinks it may be another trap aimed at him, but he slowly realizes there is a real power struggle happening inside the Village itself.

The planned assassination is tied to rival political factions within the Village, with some officials believing the older Number Two has become weak or ineffective. The Village leadership, which normally appears united and all-powerful, is shown here as divided and suspicious behind the scenes.

This is to happen during the “Appreciation Day” festival, a public ceremony honoring the Village leadership. Even though he has no loyalty to Number Two, Six does not want to see someone murdered as part of a political game. Patrick McGoohan plays the episode in a restrained way, with Six acting more like an investigator than a rebel this time around. All the while, trying to figure out who is behind the assassination and why everyone seems terrified to speak openly.

As Appreciation Day approaches, the Village rehearses the ceremony with the same rigid discipline seen in many Prisoner episodes. There are ceremonial banners and staged movements, masking the danger underneath. Although he has every reason to hate Number Two and the Village itself, he refuses to stand by while someone is murdered. That moral stubbornness is one of the things that separates him from the people running the Village.

The climax (and it’s a good one) comes during the Appreciation Day celebration itself, when the assassination attempt is finally carried out. Number Six manages to intervene, and there is quite a struggle. Number Six could have gotten rid of Number 2, either one of them. The end is suspenseful when the assassination is supposed to happen. It shows that even when you work for The Village, you are a target as well. Be Seeing You!

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all. View all posts by Badfinger (Max)